God, Please Save These Troubled States

There are few bands that have affected me quite as personally as NIN has over the years. I can't count the times I've spent drowning myself in the music, using it as a personal catharsis for my own demons. Standing in front of the stage at the Henry Fonda Theatre last night, in what might very well have been the second to last NIN show ever, I couldn't help but feel sad that a huge part of my life was passing on.

HEALTH replaced Mew at the rescheduled show. (Trent Reznor sick the week before.) I was initially saddened by this, as Mew's new record is one of my favorites this year, but I was not disappointed in the slightest by HEALTH's performance. Weird, abrasive, chaotic, and hauntingly melodic. I've never seen nor heard a band quite like them. Consider me a new fan.

But really, the whole night was about Nine Inch Nails. The band was late going on, but more than made up for this (and the rescheduling) over the course of 2 hours and 45 minutes.

No, you read that right. The band played for nearly 3 hours and consistently surprised us with rarities, bizarre collaborations, fakery, and an intense and palpable energy that few bands will ever match.


Image courtesy of my good friend Chris Suprefan

First surprise of the night: NIN opens with "Head Like A Hole." I don't know too many bands that open with one of their most popular singles, let alone the first song off their first LP. When this went directly into "Terrible Lie," the group I was in began to freak out. A lot. Because that's the second song on Pretty Hate Machine.

And then, when the third song on PHM started ("Sin"), I believed we were about to witness possibly the craziest NIN set in a long time. (I wasn't wrong.) A girl standing next to me grabbed her boyfriend and began to frantically shriek. "ARE THEY GOING TO PLAY ALL OF PRETTY HATE MACHINE? OH MY GOD, I WON'T SURVIVE."

Then we get thrown a second curveball: "March of The Pigs" directly into "Piggy."  Oh, NIN. You are truly fucking with us.

The show progressed this way the entire time; just when you thought you knew where the band was headed, they'd surprise us with a new rarity or another fan favorite. And just when you thought the show was done, they weren't even close to finishing. (Note: One of the best moments of the night was just after they played, "Eraser," when Trent brought out Mike Garson (David Bowie) and said, "We have a whole fuckload left to play." The fact was that, at that point, there were still 16 songs left on the set.)

It's hard not to make this a rambling fan wank, as I'm still processing seeing one of my favorite bands play a mind-melting show, so here's a neat, organized list of what blew my mind:

- Seeing "I'm Afraid of Americans." HOLY GOD.
- Finally seeing "Heresy" live. They played the song in Irvine, but due to the venue's insanely complicated process of getting a photo pass, I ended up seeing the last 10 seconds of the song. Not acceptable. So seeing it in its entirety (with DANNY LOHNER OH MY GOD) was perfect.
- Oh yeah. DANNY LOHNER CAME OUT AND PLAYED FOUR SONGS.
- Oh yeah. GREG PUCIATO FROM THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN CAME OUT AND SANG TWO OF THOSE SONGS.
- Oh yeah. They covered "Dead Souls" and "Atmosphere" by Joy Division and "Anthrax" by Gang of Four.
- Oh yeah GARY NUMAN SHOWED UP OH MY GOD I CANNOT FUCKING HANDLE THIS.

But the best part of the entire set was Mike Garson's piano on "Just Like You Imagined," (!!!!!!!!!!!), "The Becoming," and "I Do Not Want This." Pure bliss. That man is so talented that it HURTS.

I don't know what else to say. Best NIN set I've ever seen. Longest single show I've ever seen. Easily one of the most memorable nights of my entire life.

I already miss you, NIN.

Full setlist:

1. Head like a Hole
2. Terrible Lie
3. Sin
4. March of the Pigs
5. Piggy
6. Echoplex
7. Reptile
8. I'm Afraid of Americans
9. Survivalism
10. Head Down
11. 1,000,000
12. Letting you
13. Burn
14. Gave Up
15. Eraser
16. Just like you Imagined (w/ Mike Garson)
17. The Becoming (w/ Mike Garson)
18. I do not Want This (w/ Mike Garson)
19. Down in the Park (w/ Mike Garson & Gary Numan)
20. Metal (w/ Mike Garson & Gary Numan)
21. Cars (w/ Mike Garson & Gary Numan & Eric Avery of Jane's Addiction)
22. Anthrax (w/ Gary Numan, Eric Avery of Jane's Addiction & the four members of HEALTH... )
23. Heresy (w/ Danny Lohner)
24. Get Down, Make Love (w/ Danny Lohner)
25. Mr. Self Destruct (w/ Danny Lohner & Greg Puciato of Dillinger Escape Plan)
26. Wish (w/ Danny Lohner & Greg Puciato of Dillinger Escape Plan)
27. The Hand that Feeds
28. Atmosphere
29. Dead Souls
30. The Day the World Went Away
31. Hurt